If you hand someone a business card with a fake name on it, wouldn't that be dishonest? If you knew someone was doing this, would you trust them to do business with you? Well, would you, I mean what are they hiding from? Ah, but when it comes to Internet Marketing all of a sudden it's okay, everyone is doing it so it must be legal? Wrong.

You see folks, I have no problem with pen names as it goes, certainly no problem with fictional work. It's just when it comes to "Selling or Steering" Internet users to websites that sell something. Why all the trickery? Part of the problem on the internet is folks run around and flame others on BBS, forums, blogs, comments, etc. using fake identities.

This whole concept of not using your real name is problematic. Too there is a generational gap on this issue. Baby Boomers find this whole issue unethical, millennials don't, it's the way things are done now online, but that does not make it right, as it is fundamentally wrong, unethical and deceitful. No one can deny that, folks are hiding, for whatever reason they are dodging.

Fine, but if they do that and use these fake names who are supposedly "real experts" in the field, which they cannot be, because a fake person is not an expert it's just an avatar or a screen name. Even if the person behind the mask is real, the mask is not, but in putting that into an article you are saying; "this is a real person, a real expert, trust their advice and click here" well, I just cannot see why anyone could condone such dishonesty.

If someone claims to be someone they are not, that is misleading and if they do it for marketing purposes they are engaging in false and misleading marketing, buzz marketing under false identity or any other trickery online. I find this whole issue completely problematic.